Rookie Wide Receiver Class: Best Ever?

This year’s rookie receiving class has been one for the ages. Not only does this class have star power, but it has depth. There has been debate over whether or not this class can rival and/or surpass the receiver class of 1996, a class that included Terrell Owens, Marvin Harrison, Keyshawn Johnson and Muhsin Muhammad among others. If this class continues to be as successful as it has been thus far, I think it’ll surpass the class of 1996.
One indicator of how great this class could be is how productive the receivers are already. There are eight rookie wideouts with 48 catches or more this season. Additionally, seven of the top 32 receivers in average points a game in fantasy football are rookies, thats almost a fourth. One thing that makes those numbers even more impressive is that some of these guys are putting up these numbers with average quarterbacking, such as Mike Glennon, Kyle Orton, Cam Newton, Blake Bortles and Eli Manning.
Aside from the star power of the first round picks, the depth of the class is another thing that makes it great. The leading receiver as far as receptions go is Jarvis Landry, a guy picked late in the second round. Also, two of the top ten rookies in yards receiving are undrafted free agents. As these guys continue to develop, there is potentially 15 wideouts that could be thousand yards receivers in their career; three of them (Odell Beckham, Mike Evans and Kelvin Benjamin), are already on pace to finish with over a thousand yards in their rookie season.
The diversity of the receivers in this class is also special. There’s the sure handed, tough, third down reliable guys like Jarvis Landry; big, tall red zone possession receivers like Kelvin Benjamin and Mike Evans; super speedy home run threats like John Brown and Brandin Cooks; and super athletic, do it all guys who excel in all aspects of their game like Sammy Watkins and Odell Beckham.
The 1996 class may end up being the only class that can rival the 2014 one. Each class is extremely deep and talented. It’s hard to tell how successful these guys will be ten years from now, but to be able to tell how they shape up next to each other up to this point, ESPN used the NEP rating (Net Expected Points) to compare the two. The result? The 1996 class had an NEP of +66.8, this current class is projected to also finish with a score of +66.8.